Ironworks

  And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 2 Kings 17:4-6                   When it all comes to an end, who will be holding the reins? Is the failure of a nation, a kingdom, an institution all 100% the responsibility of the one who sits in charge at the time of failure? Simply put, the answer is no. Hoshea, the king of Israel, is just a symptom of the greater illness that infected the Northern kingdo...

          In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. 30 And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.   2 Kings 15:29-30                   I like movies where the villain’s plans are frustrated by the only good guy around. There is something invigorating about the triumph of good over evil. Pekah the king of Israel was evil.   In addition to the account here in 2 Kings 15, we also have some information about him in the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 7:1-9; 8:1-8 tell us of Pekah’s intention to replace Ahaz the king of Judah with another ...

  In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin. And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the castle of the king's house, with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of the Gileadites: and he slew him, and reigned in his stead.  2 Kings 15:23-25                  Pekahiah the King of Israel reigned only two years. In that time, he did evil just as his predecessors. This is not surprising because he is but one in a long succession of evil kings. Like Shallum, there is not much said about Pekahiah. His reign was pretty insignificant in the books of history. He was evil and he was killed by a group of ...

          There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land. 2 Kings 15:19-20                   Are people truly free if they are under the cruel hand of a foreign oppressor? Most would agree that that is not true freedom. Menahem reigned for ten years in Samaria after he murdered Shallum. However, it was Pul, the king of Assyria, who was truly ruling the northern kingdom of Israel. Menahem decided it was safer to pay off his greatest foe than to try and fight him.   Verse 20 tells us that he exacted the money of Israe...

                Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned the space of a month in Samaria.    And Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead . 2 Kings 15:13-14                         What would you do if you were king for a month? Would you be able to right some wrong. Would you try to enact policies and decrees to fix some of the issues ailing mankind? King Shallum of Israel reigned for the space of a month; that was it. His reign was so inconsequential that all that is said of him is that he reigned for a month and then Menahem executed him and took over the throne. It is certainly not the happiest of outcomes, bu...

        In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin. And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.  2 Kings 15:8-10                   King Zechariah is yet another blip on the radar of the evil kings of Israel. He did evil in the sight of Jehovah. His short description tells us that he continued in the sins of Jeroboam and influenced Israel to sin. Shallum saw an opportunity and disposed of Zechariah.                   While most of this seems...

        He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah, the God of Israel, which he spake by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.  For Jehovah saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for there was none shut up nor left at large, neither was there any helper for Israel. 2 Kings 14:25-26                    Jeroboam II was much like his namesake because he did evil in the sight of the Lord (cf. 2 Kings 14:24) . However, we learn something from his short story: sometimes God will bless his people in spite of their ruler. The Lord saw the affliction of the people. The citizens of the northern kingdom were subject to poor rulers, and because of their evil acts, the people suffered at the hands of foreign invaders. The Lord still saw fit not t...

    And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. 2 Kings 13:18-19             Joash the king of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. The sins of Jeroboam were ever-present in his life (cf. 2 Kings 13:11). He did have a particular care for the prophet Elisha and the king visited Elisha on his deathbed. Joash came to him and made his worries known about the threat of the Syrians. Elisha instructed him to first shoot an arrow out the window eastward. This was the message. The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have con...

        Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. And the Lord said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin. 2 Kings 10:29-31                   When we look at our leaders so many of them claim to be good Christian people, but it is quite evident that few are what the Word of God declares a Christian to be. Some will run on platforms that are things that would be in line with Biblical va...

        And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him . 1Ki 16:24-25              Shakespeare wrote, What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would were he not Romeo called . We refer to men as having a good name when it is deserved. We remember the most famous of names in our history such as Washington and Lincoln; we also remember the most infamous names. Omri, king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was infamous in the same regard.              People with infamous names can have success in their lives in some areas. For instance, Omri built the cit...